The Great Gatsby

It is no secret the book that “Baz Lurhmann’s The Great Gatsby” is based on is indeed a masterpiece. However, the movie is NOT the same. With a storyline already written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, you would think that such a film would be hard to falter, but you would be wrong. It’s such a shame too, because the trailer looked so promising.

For reasons unknown, the storyline has been slightly and unnecessarily altered from the original novel to a point where this film no longer echoes the spirit that F. Scott Fitzgerald in my opinion originally intended. Although visually stunning, “Baz Lurhmann’s The Great Gatsby” lacks heart.

The story is supposed to be about unravelling the mysteries and epic love story of “Jay Gatsby” played by Leonardo DiCaprio. However this interpretation seems to glorify the parties, forgetting the development of characters. The scenes, editing and pacing made the film always seem like it was in a hurry, although I do not know nor understand why.

The music was irrelevant, random and awful. While I am open to interpretation and modern takes, I do believe that this movie goes too far to a point where I felt actors were shouting over the loud music and the dialogue was often incoherent because of this. I also think that the song choices were very poor. Speaking of ‘dialogue’, having music really loud and then having flying words appear on the screendoesn’t make up for it. Once again, another thing that was completely unnecessary and it shouldn’t even have gotten that far.

The acting in this film is up and down. Whilst the main actors of the film are good, the minor character actors are questionable. I enjoyed Leonardo DiCaprio‘s portrayal of “Jay Gatsby”, but the music and editing of this film let him down. We don’t really get to know Jay Gatsby‘s character as we are constantly drowned out by loud hip-hop music. I also thought that Tobey Maguire was good in his role too. In fact, they all did alright and I want to write more about the acting, but for some reason, all I can remember is loud blaring hip-hop music, fast-paced switching scenes and an annoying flashing green light that didn’t need to be done the way it was.

Good things? Does this movie have any good things about it? It does, but very few. As previously stated, the film is visually stunning but I never doubted Baz Luhrmann for a second in that department. The costumes are also absolutely fantastic, as they always are in his films. I wish I could say more positive things about this movie, but I can’t. As stunning as the film may appear to be, this film is absolutely not worth seeing in 3D. All you will notice with 3D are flying words and confetti – that’s about it.

Usually, I am a fan of Baz Luhrmann‘s works; I love “Moulin Rouge” and “Strictly Ballroom”. I have yet to see his other feature films, however I can easily declare now that Baz Luhrmann is better at creating an original story rather than telling an existing one. Regardless whether the original tale is a classic or not, Baz Luhrmann would not resist to pull a contemporary twist on the story. This is what he did with “Romeo + Juliet”, so I should not be as surprised with what he did to Gatsby. The actors cannot be blamed as I honestly do believe they did the best that they could. I only fear that F. Scott Fitzgeraldwill be ridiculed by people who don’t read nor understand the genius of the original story because of this catastrophe.

Please don’t judge a book by its movie. The book is a classic for a reason. If you are curious and must see this movie, see it in 2D because it’s not worth it in 3D. It really makes no difference.

This movie could have been amazing. Could have. I cannot comprehend how much money was wasted on creating this film. To say ‘I expected more’ is an understatement. My heart aches for F. Scott Fitzgerald and the injustice that was done to his masterpiece. But even more so, I am thankful that he is not alive to see this mess.